There were several from China to be exact (Hong Kong to be precise, which had its own cinema golden-era between the late 80'and early 00'), and more than one from France also, some of which are more contemporary :) .
Most movie everywhere are not masterpiece, incredible contribution to the art, tasteful and original. They are easy, made to profit, amateurish, etc. That is true for every art form.
Again, yes the US being the wealthiest country in the world means that they can afford to produce more, and therefore, in your own word "can afford to swing at more pitches and consequently get more hits.". That much is true.
The rest of your message is just dismissive of non-US movie in general, and again just show your ignorance and unwillingness to engage with different movie.
> And don't get me started on "let's yell at each other for 120 minutes" Russian cinema.
Just because you don't like it does not make it slop.
> American movies are by far the most watchable, especially when you don't feel like going on a heart-wrenching journey of despair, which is all international cinema excels at.
If you were to look at US movies that win awards, they tend to be "heart-wrenching journey of despair". That is just a bias of the perception of "awardable" cinema. Good light-heated comedy rarely wins award (altough stories of hope also often do). That is not specific to "international" cinema.
You want some fun slapstick comedy from hong-kong, watch Stephen Chow movies. Some light hearted romance from France ? Jacques Demy might tickle your fancy. A more action horiented movie, Wong Ching-po wight interest you.
Just because you don't know them doesn't mean they don't exist.
Melodramatic poorly acted, over-choreographed, stunt wire work. Might as well be a dance or a cartoon. At least in the Matrix homage to this genre, there was some diegetic explanation for why the characters appeared to be throwing each other around on wires.
> A 1964 film where every line is sung? You got me there. Chalk one up for the appeal of international cinema over Hollywood.
This snarky remark ridicules you more than it does the film. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is widely considered one of the finest romantic movies ever made. Its use of color and lead performances are legendary. I'll let Patton Oswalt explain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuprpehbaok
predictably, summing up the entire worlds cinema as inferior to one nations cinema provokes disagreement.
you can simply say that you were wrong to make such a sweeping judgement and have no actual notion of the entire worlds cinematic output, nor speak anything besides english to properly understand anyone elses films, but yey, feel free to dig in your heels and be wronger.
Or... I might speak multiple languages and have lived in multiple countries. Enough to see not only the movies that break through into Oscar contention, but also whatever random movie is playing in cinemas for 2 weeks over the rainy season, and will never be heard of again.
There's a universe in which one nation is a cinematic powerhouse that dwarfs not just the average quantity but also the average quality of the cinematic output of any other nation.
My argument is this is the case. Less so every year, since Hollywood is broken now, but still.
Most non-American movies are melodramatic slop, vaudeville slapstick or heart-wrenching soul-destroyers.
Oh really? Well I found one in China that isn't. And here's one from 1970s France that isn't.